Legal Article - Business Law

How are County Court Judgments (CCJs) enforced?

Generally, forcefully.

If you have a CCJ and don’t pay on time or miss instalments, the creditor (the person to whom the money is owed) has a number of options.

A method growing in popularity is to transfer the debt to the High Court for enforcement. If the debt is more than £600, the High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEOs) can be instructed and are generally unforgiving when it comes to visiting your home or place of work to remove goods.
If you owe more than £750, the creditor can serve you a statutory demand which could lead to bankruptcy proceedings.

If you own a property, a common method is for the creditor to apply to the court to put a charge on your property. Once the charge is on the property, technically the creditor can ask the court to order you to sell the property so they can collect their money from the sale. Although creditors have the power to ask the court to force a sale, many are prepared to wait until you chose to sell the property and it’s at that point, they get paid from the sale proceeds.

A creditor may also be able to approach your employer to make a deduction straight from your wages.